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AUTHOR: 


GILES,  CHAUNCEY 


TITLE: 


THE  NEW  AND  THE  OLD 
DOCTRINE  OF  THE  UNITY 
AND  TRINITY  IN  GOD  .    . 


PLACE: 


[PHILADELPHIA] 


DATE: 


[N  .  D .  ] 


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sixth  SeHes.    No.  11. 


THE  NEW  AND  THE  OLD  DOCTRINE  OF  THE 
UNITY  AND  TRINITY  IN  GOD. 

BY  THE  REV.  CHAUNCEY  GILES. 


'^  And  the  Lord  shall  be  king  over  all  the  eaiih: 
in  that  day  shall  there  be  one  Lord,  and  His  name 
oneJ^ — Zech.  xiv.  9. 

In  these  words  the  Lord  declares  by  the  mouth 
of  His  prophet  that  the  time  is  coming  when  He 
win  be  universally  acknowledged  in  name  and 
person  as  the  supreme  and  only  Divine  Being,  the 
Creator,  Redeemer,  Sanctifier,  and  Saviour.  "  In 
that  day"  all  the  Divine  attributes  will  be  referred 
to  one  Being,  one  Person.  He  will  be  addressed 
by  one  name.  He  will  appear  to  human  conscious- 
ness and  thought  as  one  supreme  Ruler,  possessing 
in  Himself  all  the  infinite  prerogatives  of  universal 
and  perfect  dominion.  Men  will  not  say  one  with 
the  lips  while  they  think  three.  There  will  be 
perfect  unity  of  thought  and  speech.  All  the 
Divine  attributes  of  love  and  wisdom,  justice  and 
mercy,  will  be  seen  to  be  in  perfect  harmony,  and 
all  tending  to  the  attainment  of  one  end,  the  forma- 


2 


THE    UNITY  AND    TRINITY  IN  ODD 


tion  of  a  heaven  of  intelligent  human  beings,  who 
can  be  the  free  recipients  of  the  Divine  love  in  every 
form  of  good,  in  ever-increasing  fulness  and  ex- 
cellence forever. 

The  unity,  the  oneness  of  the  Lord  in  person, 
form,  and  attributes  is  essential  te  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  purpose.  As  the  Lord  is  the  centre 
and  source  of  all  life  and  truth  and  power,  our  con- 
ception of  Him  is  the  central  truth  in  human  minds; 
our  supreme  love  of  Him  the  central  life  in  human 
souls.  Our  conception  of  God  forms  the  understand- 
ing, gives  quality  to  every  affection,  direction  and 
color  to  every  thought.  Unity  and  harmony  in  our 
ideas  of  Him  give  unity  and  harmony  to  all  knowl- 
edge. Division  in  our  conceptions  of  His  Person, 
confusion  with  regard  to  the  elements  of  His  char- 
acter, cause  division,  confusion,  and  contradiction  in 
all  the  ])urposes,  methods,  and  activities  in  the  crea- 
tion. Our  idea  of  the  Lord  is  to  our  religion  and 
all  the  doctrines  relating  to  it,  as  the  germ  in  the 
seed  to  the  whole  plant.  It  gives  form,  quality, 
and  color  to  every  particular  in  it,  and  to  the  fruit 
it  bears.  A  truer,  a  higher,  a  clearer  conception  of 
the  Lord  and  of  His  relations  to  men  will  enter 
into  and  become  the  life  and  forming  power  of  every 
human  faculty;  it  will  harmonize,  elevate,  enlarge, 
and  enrich  every  human  capacity.  It  is  a  subject, 
therefore,  of  the  greatest  importance,  and  the  possi- 
bility of  gaining  any  new  light  upon  it  ought  to 
enlist  our  deepest  interest. 


I 


> 


n 


i 


THE   UNITY  AND    TRINITY  IN  ODD.  3 

In  asking  your  attention  to  this  subject,  therefore, 
I  do  not  feel  that  I  am  inviting  you  to  the  discussion 
of  a  dry,  abstract  and  impractical  question,  but  to 
one  that  is  intimately  related  to  your  highest  good. 
We  believe  that  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church 
give  us  new  light  on  this  subject;  that  they  help  us 
to  solve  the  problem  of  the  unity  and  the  trinity  in 
the  Divine  nature  in  a  way  that  preserves  the  per- 
sonal unity,  and  makes  it  more  clear,  distinct,  and 
solid,  while  at  the  same  time  they  give  us  an  equally 
clear,  distinct,  and  solid  Trinity.  They  have  solved 
for  us  the  mystery  which  has  generally  been  regarded 
as  impenetrable,  and  given  to  us  a  rational  and  com- 
prehensible idea  of  the  fundamental  religious  doc- 
trine which  is  generally  supposed  to  be  above  human 
reason,  if  not  opposed  to  it.  This  doctrine  is  revealed 
in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and  can  be  shown  to  be  taught 
in  every  passage  relating  to  the  subject.  Of  course 
I  cannot  present  this  vast  question  from  every  point 
of  view  in  one  discourse.  The  most  I  can  hope  to 
do  is  to  give  a  general  idea  of  the  new  doctrine,  and 
show  how  it  differs  from  the  one  generally  taught  in 
the  Christian  world. 

As  a  practical  way  of  doing  this,  I  propose  to  com- 
pare the  new  with  the  old  and  show  the  difference 
between  them,  and  trace  the  effects  of  those  differ- 
ences in  forming  our  conception  of  the  Lord,  His 
relations  to  man,  and  the  means  He  employs  for  the 
forgiveness  of  sin  and  the  development  of  a  Christian 
character.    I  ask  your  candid  attention  and  unbiassed 


4  THE    UNITY  AND    TRINITY  IN  GOD. 

judgment  while  I  proceed  to  accomplish  the  work  I 
have  undertaken  to  do. 

"  Hear,  O  Israel :  the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord." 
This  is  the  universal  teaching  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures. That  there  is  one  Supreme  Being  and  only 
one  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Christian  world.  Trini- 
tarian and  Unitarian  alike  declare  it.  We  may 
regard  it  as  a  central  and  unalterable  truth.  In 
discussing  the  subject,  therefore,  we  must  not  admit 
anything  that  tends  to  dissipate,  or  weaken,  or  dim 
this  central  and  universal  fact.  Our  ideas  of  God 
must  be  formed  by  it,  our  reasoning  must  be  gov- 
erned by  it,  and  tend  to  confirm  it ;  our  interpretation 
of  every  passage  of  the  Lord's  Word  must  accord 
with  it,  and  be  determined  by  it.  Whatever  may 
be  the  appearance  of  the  letter,  it  must  teach  this 
truth  if  it  is  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  and  it  must  be 
interpreted  in  a  way  to  confirm  and  illustrate  it.  If 
we  do  not  see  how  any  particular  passage  can  be  made 
to  teach  this  doctrine,  or  if  it  seems  to  us  to  deny  it, 
we  must  conclude  that  we  do  not  understand  it.  We 
must  not  admit  that  there  can  be  two  doctrines  upon 
the  subject  that  are  contrary  to  each  other.  The  truth 
that  the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord  and  that  there  is 
no  other,  must  be  so  taught  as  to  produce  in  the 
mind  the  idea  of  one,  distinct  Divine  Being.  We 
must  think  of  Him  as  one.  There  is  no  use  in 
saying  one  unless  we  think  one.  The  lips  ought 
not  to  belie  the  thought.  The  principle  of  the 
Divine  unity  must  also  extend  to  every  doctrine 


) 


THE    UNITY  AND    TRINITY  IN  GOD.  5 

and  idea  concerning  the  relations  of  the  Lord  to 
man;  to  His  methods  of  creating,  sustaining,  govern- 
ing, redeeming,  sanctifying,  saving,  punishing,  and 
blessing  men.  No  motives,  plans,  measures,  or 
conclusions  must  be  admitted  that  tend  to  dissipate 
or  obscure  the  conception  of  one  will,  one  under- 
standing, one  supreme  mind.  From  this  point  of 
view  and  with  this  immutable  principle  for  our 
guide,  let  us  compare  the  old  with  the  new  doctrine. 

The  common  doctrine  in  the  Greek,  Catholic,  and 
Evanorelical  Protestant  Churches  is,  that  there  is  one 
God,  but  that  He  exists  in  three  persons,  called  the 
Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  each  of  whom 
by  Himself  is  God.  God  the  Father,  who  is  "with- 
out body,  parts,  or  passions,''  is  the  Creator,  God  the 
Son  is  the  Redeemer,  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
the  Sanctifier.  This  conception  of  God  enters  into 
all  theology  and  gives  character  and  quality  to  all 
God^s  relations  to  man,  and  to  every  doctrine  of  re- 
ligion. One  God  in  three  distinct  persons,  each  of 
whom  by  Himself  is  God,  is  the  universal  concep- 
tion of  the  Divine  Being  in  the  Catholic  and  Evan- 
gelical Churches.     This  is  Trinitarianism. 

The  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  also  declare  as 
emphatically  as  words  can  express  that  there  is  one 
God,  and  only  one ;  but  they  deny  that  He  exists  in 
three  persons  each  of  whom  is  God.  They  affirm 
that  God  is  one  person,  one  being,  in  the  same  sense 
that  a  man  is  one  person,  one  being.  The  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  constitute  one  Divine  Being. 


6 


THE    UNITY  AND   TRINITY  IN  GOD 


We  cannot  conceive  of  the  possibility  that  there  are 
three  Divine,  self-existent  and  omnipotent  persons. 
If  there  are,  we  cannot  conceive  how  they  can  be  one 
Being.  Saying  they  are  one  does  not  make  them 
one,  and  every  attempt  to  show  that  they  are  one  has 
been  and  must  forever  prove  unsuccessful.  Here, 
then,  is  the  first  point  of  difference  between  the  com- 
mon and  the  new  faith  on  the  unity  of  God.  The 
old  teaches  that  there  are  three  Divine  persons  in  the 
one  God,  the  new  that  there  is  only  one  person  who 
alone  is  G^l. 

With  the  Trinitarian  we  believe  in  the  Divine 
Trinity  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.  We  rec- 
ognize the  distinctions  denoted  by  these  terms,  but 
we  regard  them  as  distinctions  of  the  modcfl  of  being 
and  operation  of  the  one  Supreme  Being  or  Person, 
and  not  of  three.  There  is  but  one  Divin(i  (!on.H(!i()U8- 
ness,  one  life,  one  power,  one  purpose,  one  will,  one 
understanding.  The  union  between  the  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Spirit  is  not  of  the  same  nature  as  that 
which  exists  between  three  men  who  think  alike  and 
act  together  in  perfect  harmony.  It  is  not  ngnus 
ment  between  different  parties.  It  is  that  comph^tc 
and  absolute  oneness  of  being,  formed  by  all  the 
faculties  which  constitute  that  being,  working  to- 
gether in  perfect  harmony  for  one  end,  which  distin- 
guishes one  person  from  another  and  constitutc^s 
personality.  The  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit  are 
the  elements,  the  essential  factors  which  compose  the 
nature  of  God,  each  of  which  is  a  complement  of 


i 


THE   UNITY  AND   TRINITY  IN  ODD.  7 

the  others  and  essential  to  His  existence.  They  are 
the  substance,  form,  and  united  action  of  His  Being 
in  carrying  His  purposes  into  effect,  as  man's  soul, 
mind,  and  body  are  the  substance,  form,  and  united 
action  of  his  being  in  carrying  his  purposes  into  ef- 
fect. As  the  three  essential  constituents  of  a  maa 
are  not  three  persons,  but  one  man,  so  the  three  es- 
sential constituents  of  a  Divine  Being  are  not  three 
Divine  Persons,  but  one  God  in  one  person. 

The  Trinitarian  declares  that  there  is  only  one 
God  as  stoutly  as  the  New  Churchman  or  the 
Unitarian ;  but  his  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  forms 
his  thought  and  leads  him  to  think  of  three  distinct 
persons,  to  each  of  whom  He  attributes  Divine 
qu!iliticr<,  which  the  other  does  not  |»o«w)«»,  while  he 
«iy.i  one.  The  Trinity  of  persons  is  the  pwrlical  be- 
lief; the  unity,  the  theoretical  one.  There  is  abun- 
dant evidence  of  this  contrariety  bet  i  thought 
and  speech  in  all  the  doctrines  ami  ritualfl  of  the 
Catholic  and  l*rotestant  Churchee.  Ncurly  all  tlie 
prayers  arc  addressetl  to  Almighty  God,  ainl  when 
the  petition  is  enchul,  He  is  implnrwl  to  grant  tlie 
reijuests  for  the  sake  of  the  Son,  or  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Clirist.  One  person  is  iwkcd  to  grant 
favors  for  the  sake  of  anotlu^r,  and  often  to  iJcncl 
Ibe  thini  persoti,  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  convcj'  tW 
dcfirtMi  blessing.  If  any  one  doubt*  this  Htute- 
mcfit,  lei  him  cxnmitie  the  Praycr-Book  of  tJ>e 
Epidoopal  Chunih,  or  listen  to  the  ]>niyerd  be  heaiB 
ID  puMk)  worship,  and  he  will  fiml  it  to  be  true. 


8 


THE    UNITY  AND    TRINITY  IN  GOD. 


Look  into  your  own  minds  and  see  if  you  do  not 
think  of  God  the  Father  as  entirely  distinct  from 
the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  distinct  as  two 
human  beings  are  from  each  other.  I  believe  I  am 
fully  justified  by  the  liturgical  forms  of  worship, 
and  by  general  experience  and  the  usages  of  religious 
literature,  in  the  conclusion  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  as  held  and  taught  and  practised  in  worship, 
results  in  regarding  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Spirit  as  three  distinct  Divine  Beings. 

The  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  teach  that  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit  are  united  in  the  one 
Divine  Person  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ, 
and  constitute  it.  The  Father  is  in  Him  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  from  Him.  We  do  not  know  of  any 
words  that  express  the  doctrine  of  the  New  Church 
more  accurately  than  those  of  the  apostle  when  he 
says,  "In  Him  dwelleth  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily."  They  present  to  our  minds  one  distinct. 
Divine  Person  in  the  human  form  as  the  embodi- 
ment of  all  Divine  qualities,  and  the  supreme  object 
of  our  thought,  love,  and  worship.  There  is  nothing 
in  the  doctrine  or  conception  that  tends  to  divorce 
thought  from  speech.  We  think  what  we  speak, 
and  speak  as  we  think.  When  we  think  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  we  think  of  the  Father  who  is 
in  Him,  as  we  think  of  the  mind  as  well  as  of  the 
body  when  we  think  of  a  human  being.  When  we 
pray  to  Jesus  Christ,  we  pray  to  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Spirit.     When  we   love   Him,  we   love   the 


N 


./ 


THE    UNITY  AND    TRINITY  IN   ODD.       '^    9 

Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.  When  we  ask  a  favor 
of  Him,  we  ask  it  of  His  whole  Being ;  we  ask  it  of 
the  Divine  love,  of  the  Divine  wisdom,  of  the 
Divine  mercy  and  justice;  of  every  form,  faculty, 
and  quality  of  the  Divine  Nature.  There  is  no 
separation,  confusion,  and  distraction  of  thought  and 
affection.  We  do  not  ask  one  Divine  Person  to 
grant  us  a  favor  for  the  sake  of  another,  or  through 
another.  We  ask  it  because  we  need  it.  We  ask  it 
because  we  know  that  He  desires  to  grant  us  all  and 
more  than  we  can  conceive.  We  ask  it  for  the  sake  of 
His  own  love  and  mercy,  and  for  our  sake,  because  He 
loves  and  pities  us.  The  thought  and  affection  are 
centred  on  one  Being,  one  Divine  Person,  who  alone 
can  forgive,  save,  and  bless.  This  is  a  distinctly  new 
conception  of  God,  and  tends  to  bring  Him  distinctly 
before  the  mind  as  one  Divine  Being  in  the  common 
and  true  conception  of  one  Person. 

The  doctrine  commonly  accepted  in  the  Trinitarian 
Churches  declares  that  "  God  is  without  body,  parts, 
or  passions."  If  this  is  true,  there  is  no  possibility 
of  forming  any  distinct  conception  of  Him.  He  must 
be  without  form,  for  that  which  has  no  body  and  no 
parts  can  have  no  form.  If  it  were  possible  for  a 
being  to  exist  without  body  or  parts,  we  could  gain 
no  idea  of  him,  because  an  idea  is  a  mental  image  of 
some  form.  This  attempt  to  conceive  what  is  de- 
clared to  be  inconceivable  puts  our  Heavenly  Father 
at  an  inconceivable  distance  from  us,  involves  Him 
in  impenetrable  mystery,  and  gives  us  only  a  faint. 


lO*       THE    UNITY  AND   TRINITY  IN   GOD. 

indistinct  conception  of  simple  existence,  and  results 
in  many  minds  in  the  belief  of  a  First  Cause,  or  in 
practical  Agnosticism,  which  declares  that  there  may 
be  a  First  Cause  and  there  may  not  be.  We  do  not 
know.  So  we  neither  affirm  nor  deny.  We  simply 
say  we  do  not  know.  In  other  minds  this  vague  and 
indistinct  idea  of  God  is  expressed  in  the  famous 
words  of  Matthew  Arnold  as  "  the  somewhat  outside 
ourselves  which  makes  for  righteousness." 

But  practically  the  doctrine  is  denied  even  by 
those  who  nominally  hold  to  it.  Christians  of  every 
sect  believe  in  a  personal  God.  But  what  is  person- 
ality? There  is  no  personality  in  the  atmosphere, 
in  the  ether,  in  light  and  heat,  though  there  is  some- 
what in  them  that  makes  for  creation,  growth,  and 
the  essentials  of  life.  We  do  not  attribute  person- 
ality to  plants  or  animals.  We  only  accord  it  to 
intelligent  thinking  beings.  It  implies  a  will  and 
an  understanding,  the  power  to  form  a  distinct  pur- 
pose, and  to  act  in  freedom  in  carrying  that  purpose 
into  effect.  A  mere  force,  a  tendency,  a  formless 
essence,  or  abstract  qualities  do  not  constitute  per- 
sonality. If  God  is  a  Divine  Person,  He  must  be 
form  and  substance;  He  must  have  existence;  that 
is.  He  must  stand  forth  in  some  form ;  He  must 
have  faculties,  and  they  can  only  exist  and  act  in 
some  form. 

The  doctrine  that  God  is  without  body,  parts,  or 
passions  leads  to  other  conclusions  which  the  mind 
instinctively  and  of  necessity  rejects.     If  it  is  true, 


N 


\ 


THE    UNITY  AND   TRINITY  IN  GOD.         11 

it  can  only  apply  to  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit, 
for  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  regarded  as  the  second  Per- 
son in  the  Trinity,  certainly  has  body  and  parts. 
This  definition  of  God  excludes  Him  from  the  Trin- 
ity. The  inconsequence  of  this  doctrine  is  seen  in 
another  respect.  The  Father  is  generally  represented 
by  theologians  as  sitting  on  a  throne,  with  the  Son  at 
His  riglit  hand.  But  how  could  such  a  posture  be 
possible  if  the  Father  has  no  body  ?  How  could  the 
Son  sit  at  His  right  hand  if  He  has  none  of  the  part« 
of  the  human  body  ?  It  would  be  impossible  in  the 
nature  of  things.  Another  point  worthy  of  notice  in 
which  common  belief  is  contrary  to  this  doctrine  is, 
that  God,  the  Father,  is  generally  considered  and 
represented  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures  as  a  most  pas- 
sionate Being.  Wrath,  anger,  fury,  vengeance,  jeal- 
ousy, hatred,  are  attributed  to  Him  in  terms  as  strong 
as  language  can  express,  and  the  whole  scheme  of 
salvation  is  constructed  with  the  distinct  purpose  of 
saving  men  from  His  wrath.  This  opposition  of 
common  thought  to  common  doctrine  distracts  the 
mind  and  tends  to  weaken  faith  in  all  doctrine,  and 

leads  to  unbelief. 

The  new  doctrine  teaches  that  the  one  and  only 
Lord  God  is  in  the  human  form;  that  He  is  a 
Divine  and  infinitely  perfect  Man.  This  is  what 
He  Himself  teaches  us  in  the  whole  of  the  revela- 
tion He  has  made  to  men.  He  declares  in  the  be- 
ginning that  "  He  created  man  in  His  own  image 
and  after  His  likeness."     This  testimony  is  suf- 


12 


THE    UNITY  AND    TRINITY  IN  QOD, 


ficient  of  itself  if  there  were  no  other.  But  there 
is  abundance  of  it.  Whenever  He  has  distinctly 
appeared  to  men  He  has  appeared  in  the  human 
form.  The  various  parts  of  the  human  organism 
are  attributed  to  Him.  He  has  head  and  hands  and 
feet  and  limbs.  He  hears  and  sees,  and  exercises  all 
the  senses.  His  ears  are  open  to  every  human  cry. 
His  eye  sees  every  human  event.  When  He  came 
into  the  world  and  dwelt  among  men,  He  came  in 
the  human  form  which  was  His  own;  and  since  His 
glorification  and  ascension  He  has  manifested  Him- 
self to  men  in  the  same  form.  There  is  no  break 
or  weak  point  in  the  testimony.  Every  fact  tends 
to  the  one  point,  namely,  that  the  Supreme  Intel- 
ligence, by  whatever  name  He  is  called,  is  in 
the  human  form,  and  possesses  all  its  parts  and 
organs. 

But  there  is  a  higher  and,  if  possible,  more  con- 
clusive evidence  of  this  fact.  Form,  quality,  and 
capacity  are  inseparably  connected.  The  Divine 
qualities  which  exist  in  their  infinite  perfection  and 
power  in  the  Lord  are  finited  in  man.  But  that 
would  be  impossible  if  both  God  and  man  were  not 
in  the  human  form.  The  Lord  cannot  communicate 
His  love  and  wisdom  to  a  stone,  or  a  plant,  or  an 
animal,  and  give  it  the  power  of  knowing  and  loving 
Him,  and  the  happiness  which  flows  from  the  exer- 
cise of  these  faculties,  because  the  stone  and  the  plant 
have  no  organic  forms  that  can  receive  the  forces 
which   awaken   these  affections.     Only   those   who 


THE    UNITY  AND   TRINITY  IN   QOD. 


13 


N 


f 


possess  the  human  form  can  exercise  human  quali- 
ties. Man  is  in  the  human  form  because  the  Lord 
is.  We  derive  our  form  from  the  Lord  according 
to  the  universal  laws  of  heredity. 

The  new  doctrines  do  not  try  to  teach  men  to 
conceive  of  the  inconceivable,  to  think  of  the  un- 
thinkable, to  love  the  unknowable.  They  fall  in 
with  the  nature  of  the  human  faculties.  They 
teach  us  how  to  do  what  we  were  made  to  do. 
Tliey  bring  the  Lord  near  to  us,  and  present  Him  in 
a  comprehensible  and  rational  form  adapted  to  the 
capacities  of  our  nature.  We  get  a  distinct  idea  of 
Him  which  is  familiar  to  us,  and  we  are  led  along 
in  the  line  of  the  Divine  order  and  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  human  faculties,  to  higher  conceptions 
and  more  intimate  communion  with  Him  who  is  the 
constant  source  of  our  life  and  the  giver  of  all  our 
blessings.  The  old  tends  to  confuse  and  distract  the 
mind;  it  leads  to  indistinct  and  erroneous  concep- 
tions of  the  Supreme  Being.  The  new  leads  to  har- 
mony, distinctness,  clearness,  and  assurance,  which 
continue  to  increase  as  we  advance  in  knowledge 
and  a  life  according  to  the  commandments. 

There  is  another  unconscious  and  constantly 
operating  tendency  of  the  doctrine  of  a  Trinity 
of  three  persons,  which  still  more  effectively  divides 
the  Divine  unity  and  separates  the  three  essentials 
which  compose  it,  and  that  is,  the  entirely  different 
and  distinct  offices  and  qualities  of  character  ascribed 
to  each  Person.    The  Father  is  the  Creator  and  the 


14  THE    UNITY  AND    TRINITY  IN  GOD, 

embodiment  of  law  and  justice.  The  Son  is  the  Re- 
deemer and  the  personification  of  love,  mercy,  and 
unselfish  devotion  to  men.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
Sanctifier,  and  is  represented  as  carrying  into  effect  the 
decisions  of  tlie  first  two  persons  in  the  Trinity.  The 
Father  is  not  generally  represented  as  having  any 
special  agency  in  redeeming  and  saving  men,  except 
giving  His  Son  to  die  for  men.  He  stands  aloof 
from  the  great  work,  the  embodiment  of  law,  and 
waits  for  the  demands  of  justice  to  be  satisfied.  He 
alone  possesses  the  pardoning  power.  Thus  He  is  set 
off  as  it  were  from  the  Son  and  Holy  Spirit,  waiting 
in  awful  majesty  for  compliance  with  the  terms  on 
which  He  pardons  the  sinner.  Practically  He  is 
regarded  as  the  supreme  ruler  in  the  Trinity,  as  the 
First  Cause,  and  the  one  whose  decision  is  final. 
The  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit  are  declared  to  be 
equal  with  the  Father,  and  yet  the  whole  literature 
and  worship  of  the  Churches  and  the  offices  assigned 
them  show  that  they  are  not  so  regarded  practically. 
They  do  really  occupy  subordinate  positions.  And 
yet  Jehovah  repeatedly  declares  in  the  most  solemn 
manner  that  He  is  the  only  Saviour  and  Redeemer ; 
that  He  does  not  know  of  any  other.  He  affirms 
that  He  is  love  and  mercy  itself.  He  is  long-suffer- 
ing, ready  to  forgive.  He  implores  His  children  to 
turn  to  Him  and  not  die.  He  describes  His  love 
by  the  most  endearing  relations  known  to  men.  He 
is  father,  husband,  friend.  His  love  is  deeper,  more 
constant  and  tender,  than  a  mother's  for  her  child. 


THE   UNITY  AND   TRINITY  IN   GOD. 


15 


N 


But  still  He  is  generally  regarded  as  the  personifica- 
tion of  inflexible  justice. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  love  and  devotion  of  the 
Son  is  strongly  contrasted  with  the  stern  justice  of 
the  Father.  His  nature  is  composed  almost  wholly 
of  compassion.  I  do  not  remember  to  have  ever 
heard  of  His  justice.  It  never  comes  to  the  front 
and  demands  satisfaction.  He  is  willing  to  suffer  and 
die  to  satisfy  the  justice  of  the  Father,  but  nothing 
is  said  about  His  own,  or  that  of  the  third  Person  in 
the  Trinity.  The  character  of  the  Son  is  so  different 
from  that  of  the  Father  or  of  the  Holy  Spirit  that 
He  is  an  entirely  different  being  from  them.  But 
how  can  this  be  if  the  Three  Divine  Persons  are  of 
lie  same  substance,  equal  in  power  and  glory,  and 
possess  the  same  elements  of  character  and  life? 

The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  Sanctifier.  He  applies  the 
pardon  purchased  by  the  Son  and  granted  by  the 
Father.  He  comes  to  the  earth  on  the  errands  of 
Father  and  Son,  enters  all  hearts  that  will  receive 
Him,  cleanses  them  from  sin,  breathes  new  life  into 
their  dead  affections,  regenerates  and  prepares  them 
for  heaven.  Nothing  is  said  about  His  justice.  He 
is  not  represented  as  having  any  part  in  the  creation, 
as  being  distinguished  for  love  or  any  other  Divine 
attribute.  Our  Lord  calls  Him  the  Comforter,  the 
Spirit  of  truth.  He  says  He  will  send  Him  to  illumi- 
nate the  minds  of  His  people  and  show  them  the 
meaning  of  what  He  had  taught  them.  Time  per- 
mits me  to  give  but  an  outline  of  the  distinct  quali- 


16 


THE    UNITY  AND   TRINITY  IN  GOD. 


ties,  characters,  and  offices  attributed  to  the  three 
Persons  in  the  Godhead.  They  could  be  made  much 
more  distinct.  But  this  is  sufficient  for  my  present 
purpose,  which  is  to  show  the  drift  and  tendency  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  as  usually  held  in  the 
Evangelical  Churches. 

I  have  no  desire  to  attribute  to  it  any  effects 
which  do  not  follow  from  it.  But  does  it  not 
tend  to  divide  rather  than  unite  ?  Does  it  not  re- 
sult in  the  practical  idea  of  three  Divine  Beings,  each 
of  whom  by  Himself  is  God,  and  consequently  to 
produce  the  effect  in  the  mind  of  three  Gods,  rather 
than  of  one  Divine  Being  who  is  alone  God  ?  Is  not 
the  mind  led  insensibly  and  inevitably  to  the  con- 
clusion that  there  are  three  Divine  minds,  three 
Divine  wills,  three  Divine  understandings,  three  in- 
dividual and  distinct  offices,  neither  of  which  the 
other  could  perform  ?  I  ask  you  who  have  been 
brought  up  under  the  influence  of  this  teaching  to 
look  into  your  own  minds  and  see  how  you  think 
of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.  Do  you  have 
a  clear  and  distinct  conception  of  one  Being,  one 
form,  one  will,  one  purpose,  one  understanding,  one 
power,  the  only  centre  and  source  of  all  life,  the  only 
directing  mind,  or  is  your  thought  divided  among 
three?  The  result  of  a  doctrine  in  forming  the 
mind  and  determining  the  thought  is  the  practical 
test  of  our  conception  of  it. 

The  central  doctrine  of  the  New  Church  is  this  : 
God  is  one  in  essence  and  person,  in  whom  is  the 


THE   UNITY  AND   TRINITY  IN  ODD.         17 

Divine  Trinity  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit,  and 
that  one  person  is  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Here  is 
a  distinct  Trinity  and  complete  unity.  It  discrimi- 
nates between  the  essential  constituents  which  com- 

jt  pose  the  Divine  Being,  but  does  not  separate  them 
into  distinct  persons.  They  are  the  component 
parts,  the  factors  of  one  person.  If  either  of  these 
factors  were  wanting,  neither  the  Father,  Son,  nor 
Holy  Spirit  would  be  God.  The  Father  is  life  in 
its  origin,  life  as  it  is  in  itself,  life  as  love  and  wis- 
dom in  infinite  perfection  and  power,  and  conse- 
quently above  the  possibility  of  all  human  concep- 
tion and  thought.  He  is  Jehovah,  the  I  Am.  The 
Son  is  the  human  nature,  the  human  mind  which 
the  Father  created  from  Himself,  and  with  which 

t  He  clothed  Himself,  and  which  became  a  part  of 
Himself.  And  He  did  this  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
vealing Himself  to  men  and  of  bringing  His  Divine 
power  to  operate  upon  them  more  effectively. 

The  creation  of  every  human  being  is  effected  in 
the  same  relative  manner.  The  spirit  which  corre- 
sponds to  Jehovah  clothes  itself  with  a  human  body 
which  serves  as  a  medium  of  communication  with 
the  material  world.  The  Son  was  not  a  different 
person  or  being  from  Jehovah,  as  the  body  is  not  a 
different  person  from  the  spirit.    Each  is  an  essential 

/  of  the  other.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  Divine  life  or 
power  of  Jehovah,  modified  and  adjusted  to  human 
conditions,  and  transmitted  by  the  human  nature  He 
had  assumed  for  this  special  purpose,  as  the  material 


18 


THE    UNITY  AND    TRINITY  IN   GOD. 


body  transmits  and  brings  into  effect  the  powers  of 
the  mind.  There  is  the  same  trinity  in  every  human 
being  that  there  is  in  God,  only  in  man  it  is  created 
and  finite,  while  it  is  infinite  in  God.  But  the  order, 
relations,  and  use  of  the  three  essentials  of  being  are 
the  same  in  both,  and  there  is  no  more  mystery  about 
the  Divine  Trinity  than  there  is  about  the  human 
trinity  in  every  man  and  woman. 

By  looking  at  ourselves  we  can  see  how  these 
three  essentials  of  being  are  distinct  and  yet  united 
in  the  Lord.  The  mind  is  not  the  body,  and  the  body 
is  not  the  mind.  The  influent  power  of  the  mind 
which  controls  the  body  and  acts  by  means  of  it 
upon  other  minds  and  upon  material  things,  is  not 
the  mind  or  the  body.  The  three,  mind,  body,  and 
the  power  of  the  mind,  flowing  into  and  acting  by 
means  of  the  body,  constitute  the  man.  The  body 
without  a  mind  is  not  a  man,  the  mind  without  a 
body  is  not  a  man,  and  mind  and  body  without  the 
operation  of  tlie  mind  into  and  by  means  of  the 
body  are  not  a  man.  The  three  make  one  human 
being.  So  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit  make 
one  Divine  Being.  The  Father  is  in  the  Son,  as 
the  mind  is  in  the  body.  This  the  Son  declares  in 
the  most  explicit  manner:  "The  Father  is  in  me.'* 
"The  Father  doeth  the  works."  The  Son  is  the 
mediator,  or  medium  by  which  the  Father  gets  access 
to  men  and  men  get  access  to  the  Father.  The  Son, 
the  human  nature,  is  "  the  way."  He  is  "  the  door." 
"  No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  me."   The 


THE    UNITY  AND   TRINITY  IN  GOD. 


19 


body  holds  the  same  relation  to  the  mind.  The 
body  is  the  way  to  the  mind.  The  senses  are  the 
doors  to  the  will  and  understanding.  The  Holy 
Spirit  is  the  Divine  truth,  the  Divine  power  pro- 

I  ceeding  from  the  Father,  as  light  and  heat  and 
magnetic  forces  proceed  from  the  material  sun.  As 
this  spirit  is  from  Jehovah,  it  partakes  of  His  nature, 
and  operates  to  cleanse  man  from  sin  and  create  him 
anew  and  restore  the  Divine  image  lost  by  sin.  As 
the  Father  is  in  the  Son,  the  Holy  Spirit  can  only 
be  transmitted  by  the  Son.  The  Father  sends  the 
Spirit  by  the  human  medium  He  had  assumed  for 
that  specific  purpose. 

Here  we  have  distinctly  set  forth  one  Divine  Be- 
ing providing  tlie  means  of  carrying  His  purposes 

/  of  love  and  wisdom  into  effect.  He  clothes  Himself 
with  a  medium  by  means  of  which  He  can  come 
near  to  dying  humanity,  and  bring  His  Divine  power 
to  act  upon  human  minds,  cleanse  them  from  sin  and 
draw  them  to  Himself.  We  have  one  God  in  the 
glorified  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  whom  is  the 
Divine  Trinity. 

This  doctrine  gives  us  a  distinct  object  for  the 
thoughts  and  affections  to  rest  upon.  That  object  is 
the  glorified  person  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  •It  is 
>  an  object  made  familiar  to  us  by  many  humble,  kind, 
and  wonderful  deeds,  by  much  suffering  and  con- 
stant devotion  to  men,  recorded  in  the  Gospels ;  by 
a  manifestation  of  love,  wisdom,  tenderness,  and  mi- 
raculous power  calculated  to  awaken  our  love  and 


20 


THE    UNITY  AND    TBINITY  IN  QOD, 


draw  us  by  affection  to  worship  and  obey  Him. 
Our  God  is  not  merely  a  First  Cause,  "  a  somewhat 
that  makes  for  righteousness,"  a  remote,  invisible, 
and  unapproachable  and  awful  Being.  He  is  a 
glorious,  Divine,  perfect  Man,  the  embodiment  of 
all  Divine  forces  and  human  perfections.  The  thought 
and  the  affections  are  not  divided  between  three 
persons.  The  Divine  attributes  are  not  parcelled 
out  between  others,  giving  to  one  the  office  of  cre- 
ator, to  another  the  work  of  redemption,  and  to 
the  third  the  power  of  sanctifying.  One  Person 
performs  all  these  operations.  We  do  not  ask  one 
to  pardon,  and  save,  and  bestow  blessings  for  the 
sake  of  another.  There  is  only  one  to  ask,  only  one 
who  can  pardon,  only  one  who  can  save,  only  one 
who  gives  eternal  life.  There  is  only  one  infinite 
love,  only  one  perfect  wisdom,  only  one  will,  one 
purpose,  one  power,  one  Being  who  has  life  in  Him- 
self, and  that  Being  is  the  Creator,  the  Redeemer, 
the  Saviour,  the  Sanctifier.  He  is  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  "  in  whom  dwelleth  the  fulness  of  the  God- 
head bodily/ 


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